Topsy Turvy
by Lyra Silvertongue2
Summary: My version of what happened during Shadowdance. Yes, I know it's old, I just had this cool idea and I had to go through with it. What if the dimension Kurt 'ported to wasn't all fire and brimstone, but had people in it? It's a Kurtty! Chapter 3's up! :D
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I own nothing of X-Men: Evolution, and, unless I inherit a large sum of money, I will *never* own X-Men: Evolution.  
  
Author's Note: I admit it, I'm starting a new fic before finishing my old ones, but I have a good reason: I was inspired! What follows is my interpretation of the events of Shadowdance...if they had happened the way I would have liked them to. Now, don't worry, I've seen the episode countless times, I know that Kurt winds up with Amanda in the end, but...well, I'd much rather have him with Kitty, to tell you the truth. I apologize for the length of this chapter, but...it's more of an introduction than anything else, you know? So....let 'er rip!  
  
***  
  
Topsy-Turvy  
  
A fic by Lyra Silvertongue  
  
***  
  
The door hissed open behind them as Rogue, then Kitty and Jean walked into the room.  
  
"I got so excited when I dreamt this up," said Forge ecstatically. "Soon, Kurt, you'll be zapping anywhere on the globe."  
  
"But...two miles is my limit. And I have to see or know where I'm going."  
  
"Yeah, but this baby's gonna change that," Forge said, looking immensely proud of his machine. He was putting the finishing touches on it as he spoke to Kurt, who was looking rather perplexed about the entire situation.  
  
"Uh...what does it do, exactly?"  
  
The Professor took this opportunity to explain. "Forge believes that when you teleport, you actually pass through another dimension. His device will slow you down while you're there, so we can gather information about it."  
  
"And with that data, we can improve your abilities," finished the eccentric inventor. He tweaked one last wire and shut the piece of machinery on the table. Retracting the part of his robot arm he had been using, his hand morphed into a more normal shape, and he picked up the device. "All right! Ready to boogie?"  
  
"Uh...ah, boogie?"  
  
Forge grinned. "Yeah, you know, trip the riff, go where no man's gone before."  
  
"Uh, I guess. How long will I be in there?"  
  
"Just a few seconds. I can set your speed with this chronometer." He did just that as he spoke, pushing the button four times until the meter read four seconds.  
  
"Scott, make certain his breathing mask is secure. The sulphurous smoke Kurt leaves when he teleports indicates the atmosphere may be toxic."  
  
"Gotcha," said Scott as he adjusted Kurt's mask. "You ready for this, dude?"  
  
"Uh-huh." Kurt made a little gesture of assent.  
  
"Good luck," said Scott, stepping back.  
  
"Aim for my old lab in the high school," instructed Forge. "It's farther than you've gone before, and there shouldn't be anyone there to see your arrival."  
  
Through the bulky oxygen mask, Kurt could see Scott giving him a thumbs-up, while Evan and Kitty were waving. His eyes moved to the Professor, who spoke again.  
  
"When you arrive, report back via your communicator."  
  
Kurt took a deep breath, and the lights in front of him began their countdown. When they reached the end, Kurt teleported away.  
  
_Oh, man, I *knew* this was a bad idea._ Kurt's eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the light, but when they did, he wished that they hadn't. He was floating above a street that was lined with cars, and, unless he was imagining it, which he was pretty sure he wasn't, there were...people? _But...but the Professor said...a...people?_ Even Kurt's thoughts were unintelligible as he stared in awe at the *people* that slammed on their breaks and stared *back at him*, jaws dropping. Kurt was so absorbed in the sight of the people that went whizzing by, each of them with the same expression on their face, one of fear and shock, that he almost didn't notice what was directly in his path.  
  
_Oh....Scheiße!!!_ He looked around himself frantically for some way of stopping himself beyond crashing into the wall. Three seconds away.... a light pole, to his right. Kurt stretched out his arms and his tail.... no luck. Two seconds.... the top of a truck, he stretched out his four toes...just one inch more...one second...too late now, there wasn't any help. Shutting his eyes tightly, Kurt tried to position himself in such a way as to *not* break all of his bones....  
  
WHAM!  
  
Kathy slammed her fist into the corner of her locker and it popped open. Reaching inside, she dug around for her Calculus book, biting her tongue as she concentrated on feeling for the book with her fingertips. Her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling until she felt her head being pushed forcefully toward the locker.  
  
"Good afternoon, geek-a-zoid," said a voice from behind her, dripping with sarcasm and cruelty.  
  
_'Geek-a-zoid.' How...original,_ she thought, rubbing her forehead and resuming her search. With a flush of pride she felt her wrist brush up against the Lycra cover, and she dragged it up out of the pit she called her locker. Putting 'Calculus 1' in her knapsack, and zipping the pack up for good measure, she finally turned around to the now-impatient bully standing behind her, who, lucky him, was her third contestant for the day. She gave him the best cold look she could muster, which wasn't *incredibly* cold, considering he towered over her by about a foot and a half.  
  
"Good afternoon, *Todd*," she said, laying some emphasis on it. She knew he hated his real first name. "How goes the hunt?"  
  
"The...hunt?"  
  
"For brain-cells," she said bluntly. "I figure, from the amount you're killing each day, you *have* to be *hunting* them."  
  
His face tightened in rage. "Ugh! You are *so* lucky that I don't hit girls, 'cause if I did-" he cut himself off with a double-take at the inside of Kathy's locker door. "What the hell is that?" One could almost see the pain in his expression as he slowly worked it out. "Is that the- the Baytown Demon? Wasn't that that bogus story in the Enquirer?" Kathy stepped quickly to cover the newspaper clippings, a blush covering her face. She clutched her books tightly to herself and looked at the bully as if to say: 'Yeah, so what if it is?'  
  
"Why do you have a picture of a Demon in your locker?" His puzzled look changed to a malicious grin. "Do you *like* the Baytown Demon?" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the nearest passer-by and told them (with that terrible grin still on his face): "Kathy likes the Baytown Demon!" He started snickering, and pointed at the locker door through Kathy. "She wants to *marry* him!"  
  
Desperate to get away from Todd, the boy nodded his head and smiled nervously, his eyes darting to the side, looking for any means of escape. Kathy, for her part, just clutched her books tighter to her chest and blushed.  
  
_Get me *out* of here!_ To tell the truth, Kathy had to wonder why Todd picked on her in the first place. She had never actually *provoked* an attack by *any* of the bullies that chose to pick on her. _Give me something, *anything;* just *get me out of here!*_ Todd released the kid he was holding just as the "It's the end of school and we're closing the building for the day so get the hell out of here" bell sounded. Kathy waited to sigh with relief until Todd had gone through his routine of shoving her shoulder roughly and stalking away.  
  
Turning back to her locker, Kathy took one last glance at the 'Baytown Demon' before she slammed the door. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she began walking toward the exit.  
  
She remembered the first time she had seen the Demon. The 'appearances' had started roughly a year ago, and Kathy hadn't believed in them at first. People had been saying that some kind of blue monster had been seen in quick flashes all around Baytown. Ever the skeptic, Kathy had demanded proof (well, privately. Kathy wasn't the type of person who would demand something like that out loud), and she had gotten it. One day, in the middle of her Physics class, the Demon had appeared. It was one of his first 'appearances' in Baytown, and it had caused quite an uproar among the students in her class (kids diving out of windows, etcetera). While the kids around her had run amok, Kathy sat stock-still in her seat, the image of the Demon frozen in her mind. He had been looking straight at her, apparently not seeing the panicking students.  
  
It had been less than a week later that the one and only picture of the Demon was run in the Baytown Enquirer. Kathy was a little embarrassed that she was so interested in something that appeared in the Enquirer, since it was pretty much the joke newspaper of the town. But something had drawn her to that picture, to that story…  
  
_Hell, who am I kidding? I'm just a sick puppy who's drawn to freaky stuff._  
  
Suddenly, Kathy noticed what she had been unconsciously heading for, and was jarred out of her thoughts. There was a crowd gathered around one of the four walls of the Fish Market; she could tell because of the sign that was still visible over the heads of the tallest people in the crowd: 'Fresh Fish Today.' _Mindless *sheep,*_ she thought to herself about the crowd. They seemed pretty excited about something.  
  
Curiosity getting the better of her, Kathy stirred herself into moving forward once more. As she approached the crowd, every back to her, she could hear the people talking about what they were clustered around, whatever it was. As she listened, she couldn't help but notice that nearly every person in the group was a teenager.  
  
"What *is* it?"  
  
"It's blue!"  
  
"It must have escaped from a *zoo,* or something."  
  
"No, stop it! You're scaring it!"  
  
"Why do *you* care whether I'm scaring it or not?"  
  
"I want to take it home and make people pay to see it. I gotta-"  
  
"What's it *wearing*?"  
  
"I wonder what it's *doing* here…"  
  
"It's *blue*!"  
  
"I wonder what would happen if I touched it…"  
  
"Ew, don't touch it, you don't know where it's been!"  
  
"Holy *crap,* it's *blue*!"  
  
Kathy struggled to see through the group of people in front of her. She tried several different positions and she tried jumping to see over their heads, but she finally resolved that she was going to have to look from ground level. Crouching down, she managed to get a good view of the wall through people's legs, but she still couldn't figure what they were talking about. _Well,_ she gathered. _I know it's blue. And I know it's alive._ Shifting her position, she suddenly saw something. A flash of blue. A frightened face, which she recognized instantly.  
  
Sitting back with a 'thump!', she dropped her books on the ground. So it wasn't just some hoax. It - *he* - was real. She could definitely see that 'it' was a 'he,' now. So she hadn't been imagining it. The Baytown Demon wasn't a Demon at all - he was human - or at least something resembling a human. Blue…  
  
It took Kathy a few seconds to shake off the shock, but she managed to gather herself together enough to realize that she couldn't just *leave* it - him - here. She had to *do* something, help 'him.' Otherwise…otherwise *some* people, mindless sheep that they were, would come along and do *something* horrific to 'him.' _They'll probably just *kill* him. Or chop him into bitty pieces. Or both._ Kathy grimaced, and ducked around the corner to begin rummaging through her pack.  
  
_That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would,_ Kurt thought as he sat up, rubbing his head. Eyes closed, he leaned up against the wall that had brought him to a stop (a painful stop, but a stop all the same). It was a few seconds before he realized that he was nearly surrounded by the sound of many people speaking at once. He sat blinking into the harsh sunlight, then his eyes focused on the crowd that had gathered about him. That was when he realized what the people's most-likely intent was. That all-too familiar thought of being a monster, being inhuman. For all he knew, the people around him could be planning to have him dead and half-dissected within a few hours. _I'm a long way from home,_ Kurt thought bleakly, huddling into himself, his back pressed against the wall. There wasn't going to be any help for him here.  
  
"Help is on the way," Kathy muttered. She fished the last piece of equipment that she would need out of her backpack. Luckily, she only really needed two things to go through with her plan, both of which were, by some miracle, in her bag. Kathy held the two small objects in front of her face, running over her plan one more time. "Okay," she sighed, gathering up her courage. "I can do this. I'm *going* to do this." Putting a jaunty step in her stride and her nose in the air, Kathy turned at the corner and headed toward the crowd. She paused right at the edge of the group, and took a deep breath. Then she began to push her way towards the Fish Market sign.  
  
Kurt covered his face in anguish, trying to keep himself hidden from the crowd. He had already divulged himself of his bulky oxygen mask, figuring that if the people around him *looked* human, and *sounded* human, they were most likely human and couldn't live without oxygen. _If only I could teleport *out* of here,_ he thought desperately. _But then I might *never* be able to get back home._ Kurt was starting to regret that he hadn't asked for more information about Forge's 'gizmo.' Perhaps if he had known something about the way it had worked, he could have…  
  
It was of no use to him now to regret his mistakes. _What I have to do *now* is focus on getting *out* of here._  
  
Suddenly a clear voice called above the crowd, and someone was kneeling next to him. "When I stick this thing into your side," a familiar voice murmured, close to his ear. "I want you to act like you've been shocked with electricity or something, okay?"  
  
Kurt slowly moved his fingers aside, and tried to keep himself from reacting when he saw who the voice belonged to. Her face was framed by the sun, and her hair had a glow about it from the light that was behind her. Kurt pressed his back up against the wall in his shock.  
  
"Kitty?"  
  
***  
  
Oooh, a cliffhanger. Well, I'm really into this fic, so I'll probably update soon. Probably. In the meantime, feel free to review (not that I'm *requiring* you to, or anything, it would just be nice if you dropped me a line). Later, people! :D 


	2. Chapter Two

"Kurt. Please come in, Kurt." The Professor tried for what seemed like the millionth time to call their fuzzy friend on his communicator. And for what seemed like the millionth time, there was no response.  
  
Kitty sat weeping on a cold metal chair, still in the Danger room, while Jean tried to comfort her by patting her on the back. A half an hour ago she had been waving cheerfully to her friend, simply waiting for the experiment to be over with so she could go to school. What had happened to that? _I'll, like, tell you what happened to it. It, like, vanished in a cloud of, like, sulphur._  
  
Kitty could hardly guess *why* she was crying. It was only Kurt, after all. The ultimate goofball. The kid who decided three minutes after they met to poke her in the ribs at least twenty times a day. Kurt made it a point to either pull some kind of prank or flirt with Kitty every time he saw her. Wiping a tear from her eye, Kitty thought, _Maybe that's why you care about him so much. He's dependable._  
  
"Kitty, do you think you feel well enough to go to school today?" Kitty jumped a little, startled from her (rather surprising) thoughts. Jean had a worried look on her face, and was peering down into her eyes, her hand still on Kitty's back.  
  
Kitty was unsure. "I..."  
  
"I'm sure you'll see Kurt back here by the end of the day," Jean reassured Kitty, looking worried through her warm smile. "Knowing him, this is probably just some kind of ridiculous prank." Kitty tilted her head back towards the floor, wiping at the tears still streaming down her face. "I'll take that as a 'no'," Jean surmised, straightening out.  
  
"No!" Kitty got to her feet sharply, leaving the chair to clatter to the floor. "I'm, like, going to school," she said firmly. "I can handle it." _Or I'll, like, die *trying* to handle it._  
  
Being a mind-reader, Jean was still suspicious. "Are you sure?" Kitty put on a fake smile that didn't touch her eyes.  
  
"Like, totally. Kurt'll probably, like, be there already, like, laughing at us and stuff."  
  
"Okay, Kitty..."  
  
"Really." Kitty watched the red-head walk slowly out of the Danger Room, her footsteps sounding harsh in the nearly empty place. Professor X continued to hail Kurt over his communicator. Kitty paid close attention to the static on the other end of the line as she cleaned her face up by feel, retying her top-knot for good measure. _If it kills me._ Kitty put on a look of grim resolution and headed upstairs to change into her school clothes.  
  
Shoving her way through the mass of teenagers, Kathy called out: "Federal Bureau of Investigation, people!" Kathy flashed the I.D. that she had bought at Chuck E. Cheese (with twenty tickets). The crowd instantly parted. "I'm in charge of handling this situation. Let me through, please." There was now a path through to the center of the group, and Kathy made it her business to carry herself like someone who had a great deal of people under her control. She tried not to look astonished when she got a clear view of the being huddled underneath the letter 'F' in 'Fish.'  
  
Moving more quickly, Kathy soon reached the wall and crouched down beside The Baytown Demon. She brought out her flip-comb, and held it close to the Demon. "When I stick this thing into your side," she muttered, trying to calm him down. "I want you to act like you've been shocked with electricity or something, okay?" Kathy prepared to jab the comb into his side until the Baytown Demon surprised everyone by speaking.  
  
"Kitty?" Kathy tried to conceal her shock and keep up her act. The people gathered around her had started talking again, expressing their surprise to one another. Speaking condescendingly, as if to a child or an animal, she replied.  
  
"No, I'm not a Kitty. Now I want you to calm down, and come with me."  
  
The Demon seemed to be picking up on her little game. He growled menacingly and said, "Don't want to." Taking this as a cue, Kathy jabbed the comb into his side, and prayed silently.  
  
The reaction was almost instantaneous. The creature twitched and cried out in pain, and Kathy made her move. "It's time to go!" She hauled him to his feet and began to drag him out of the semi-circle of people. "Clear aside, please," she called to the crowd. "Important business." _Mindless sheep,_ Kathy thought again as the crowd parted in front of her once more. She dragged the Demon roughly through the gap in the people, and he played up his part, clutching at his arm where she gripped it. "Nothing more to see here, folks! I'm taking it away, now! Go back to what you were doing!" The mass of people slowly drifted apart behind them as they turned the corner, and Kathy continued to drag the Demon down the street. Once they were about a block away, Kathy loosened her hold on his arm.  
  
"You speak, right?" Kathy asked him. He nodded. "I'm going to take you to an empty warehouse, okay? So we can talk."  
  
"All right." It startled her to no end when he replied. Nonetheless, she waved him around another corner, and they traveled down a quiet street lined with houses before they came to the place Kathy had been heading for. Opening the heavy door with one hand, she turned back to look at the Demon. She was beginning to get a little more frightened, now that she wasn't surrounded by hordes of people who could save her. _He's not going to hurt you,_ she reminded herself. But then she wondered if she really knew. _Well, you're just going to have to talk to him, aren't you?_  
  
The Demon stepped inside and Kathy closed the door behind her, never turning her back to her 'new friend.' "You want to sit down?" She gestured at a couple of crates that were lying close to the door. Her voice echoed in the large, empty space that was the warehouse.  
  
"Sure," he said, sitting down. The bulky machine was still strapped to his front. He put down his oxygen mask on the floor beside him.  
  
_Well, better get started._ "My name's Katherine Pryde," she began, looking him in the eye. "You called me 'Kitty' before, didn't you?"  
  
"Ah - Kurt Wagner," he said, holding out his hand. She shook it, then looked down at it for the first time. No wonder it felt so strange - it was covered in fur and had only two fingers and a thumb.  
  
_Talk about out-of-place._  
  
"And, ja, I called you Kitty before. You look…well, from what I can tell, you *are* Kitty. Um…this is going to sound really strange, but…I come from a different…dimension?" Kurt was genuinely surprised when she didn't laugh. The Kitty *he* knew would have cracked up in an instant. "I'm a - gosh, I don't know if I should tell you this…"  
  
"Listen, I just saved you when no one else would, okay? I think you can trust me."  
  
"Yeah, you're right." He paused before he spoke again. "I'm a mutant. Though, you know, now that I think about it, I think that would have been obvious."  
  
"Mutant?" He said that the wrong way. He acted like it was some kind of nationality or something. "You mean like some kind of - some kind of freak of nature?"  
  
*Now* Kurt understood why there had been the amount of confusion there was on the street. Why not *one* person seemed to recognize him, not even his teammate Kitty. "I'm guessing there aren't any mutants here. You see…in *my* universe, Kitty Pryde can walk through walls."  
  
"Well, I definitely can't do that. And nobody calls me 'Kitty' here." She said the name with disdain. "I like to be called 'Kathy,' if you don't mind."  
  
"Not at all." _I needed a way to disassociate, anyway._ "Like I said before, I'm a mutant. That means I have a sort of...special power..."  
  
  
  
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  
  
Kitty looked up in surprise as the school-bell rang. She had been staring blankly at her math book for an indeterminate amount of time, thinking about her missing friend. With a glance over at Kurt's vacant desk, Kitty scooped up her books and headed towards the door. She was intercepted by her teacher.  
  
"Is something bothering you, Miss Pryde? I noticed that you didn't do a *single* problem today, or do anything to contribute to class at *all.*"  
  
_You noticed that, huh?_ "I'm sorry, Mrs. Riley. I'm just, like, a little out of it today."  
  
"'A little out of it'? Kitty, you didn't even *look* at the board today, when you're usually so - so *enthralled* in what we're doing. I would say that you're more than a 'little out of it.'"  
  
"Look, I'm, like, really sorry Mrs. Riley, but I, like, really have to, like, get to my, like, next class. Which is -" her eyes went out of focus for a few seconds. "- chemistry." Mrs. Riley just looked at her. "The, like, bell's going to ring any second now, so I'm, like, gonna go, okay?" Kitty ducked out of the room before the teacher could say no. Heading towards room 324, she realized that she shared her next class with her quasi-friend Lance. _Hmm. Maybe he'll, like, be able to comfort me about this,_ Kitty thought. _Or maybe not. Just *any* talk would be of, like, help._ She sank into her seat beside Lance, who was in his usual position, draped nonchalantly on a chair that he had obviously turned backwards, at the lab table.  
  
"Like, hi," she whispered as the bell rang.  
  
"What's up, Pretty-Kitty?"  
  
She sighed. "Kurt's missing." Lance changed his position and looked directly into her face, puzzled. "There was some kind of, like, experiment? And he, like, teleported away, and we can't, like, find him."  
  
The scruffy teen opposite Kitty looked grim, obviously thinking about the Brotherhood. "So what if Fuzz-butt's missing?" he said coldly. "I thought you didn't like him, anyway."  
  
"Lance, how can you, like, say that?" Tears were springing to her eyes again. _Oh, dammit. Not *again.*_  
  
"*Mr.* Alvers. *Ms.* Pryde. If you are *quite* finished with your discussion, I'd like to return to teaching you thermodynamics."  
  
There were a number of faces turned back, looking at them. Kitty sniffled and wiped any tears that were by her eyes quickly, and pulled out her chemistry book. After sneaking a glare at Lance while the teacher's back was turned, she proceeded to stare at page 540 in her book, head propped up by a cupped hand.  
  
"It's gonna be, like, a loooooong day," she whispered to herself.  
  
  
  
"…and the first time *I* saw you was in my physics class at school," Kathy finished, gesturing. Kurt stared into space for a moment, thinking, then moved suddenly, excited.  
  
"I've figured it out!"  
  
"Figured what out?"  
  
"Why you guys have been seeing me here!" Kurt jumped up and began to pace. "The Professor said that every time I teleport, I go to an alternate dimension for a split-second, right?" Kathy nodded, still confused. "Well, *I* figure is that what I *actually* do is come *here* for a split second in *one* place, and move so fast that I…go through the walls or something, I haven't figured that part out yet…but I appear for a split-second one place – then a split-second in another place. *That* would explain why there have been *two* sightings of me about Bayvi – I'm sorry, Baytown – at the same time!" He turned back to look at her. "Follow?"  
  
"Uh…give me a minute." Laughing, Kurt sat down on his crate again, flicking his tail out behind him. The movement caught Kathy's eye. "Do you move that thing consciously?" She pointed to his fifth limb.  
  
"Huh?" He looked behind him and snagged it, holding the spaded tip close to his face. "Nein, not really. Occasionally I can get it to do something for me, like pick something up or something, but other than that…it's got a mind of its own."  
  
"Huh. Well, uh…what are we going to do to solve this problem? You know, you being stuck here?" Kurt blinked. He had been so involved in his conversation with Kitty – er, Kathy – that he hadn't really thought about that. The last time it had occurred to him that he was stuck here was when he was pressed up against that Fish Market wall. The truth hit him like a ton of bricks. It was quite likely that he would never see the real Kitty – his Kitty – or any of his *real* friends again. "Wow. Guess you weren't really thinking about that, huh? Okay, listen. Maybe you can think of someone from *your* dimension that you would contact in the case of an emergency or something?"  
  
It took Kurt a moment to respond. "Uh, ja, ja." Kurt shook his head to clear it and looked up at her. So different from Kitty…Kathy didn't wear her hair up or *anything,* and…no capris. So different… "Uh, Forge. Yeah, Forge. He made *this* thing," Kurt lifted the machinery that still lay on his chest and let it fall with a whumph. "and got me stuck here." He rolled his eyes. "Remind me to thank him when I get back."  
  
"Forge? I don't know a Forge. Try again."  
  
He smacked his forehead. "Oh, that's right! Forge is probably really old right now…" He got a strange look on his face as he pondered the possibilities. "…or he's still in the Middleverse."  
  
Kathy just looked confused.  
  
Laughing nervously, Kurt made another suggestion: "The Professor. If there's anyone who would know what to do in this situation, it's him. He's helped me out of many a tight spot before, and he's the smartest man *I* know. So, yeah, Professor Xavier."  
  
Kathy raised an eyebrow. "You mean that old kook who lives in that big old mansion all by himself? *That* Xavier?"  
  
"Bald? Scottish accent? In a wheelchair?"  
  
"I wouldn't know. I've never met the guy…although your description pretty much matches my mother's – she used to deliver his groceries until the guy got a maid. You sure you wanna go see *him*?"  
  
"Oh, ja. Trust me. He'll know what to do."  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
Joy! Now I feel as if I've accomplished something. It would be great if I got some feedback, but I'm not forcing you on this. Anywho, the next chapter will probably be up within a few days, if I can find the time (state standard testing, you know). I'll be writing soon! :D 


	3. Chapter Three

Here is chapter three! Last line from previous chapter (and, yes, it *does* make a difference):  
  
"Oh, ja. Trust me. He'll know what to do."  
  
***  
  
"I don't know what to do." It seemed like the first time anyone had ever heard Scott utter those words. The melancholy group sat huddled around their lunch table, barely picking at their food. Even Evan seemed to be a little slow to sip at his milk. "I don't know what to tell you," said Scott, his face directed to the table. He turned his head up to look at them, the expression behind his sunglasses grave. "Only that we have to have faith in the Professor. I'm sure that, by now, with Forge's help, he's been able to bring Kurt back by now. In fact, I'll bet we'll be seeing Kurt the minute we get home from school." He said it the same way that everyone had been saying it all day: like he didn't believe it.  
  
Rogue sat slumped on the bench next to Risty, watching Scott give his pep talk from afar. Then she watched Taryn, oblivious, bounce up to the X-Man and ask him something. Jean looked shocked.   
  
"Looks like you just lost your shot, girl," Risty said to Rogue, who was trying her best to look indifferent. "Scott just got snagged!"  
  
"It doesn't matter. I wasn't going anyway."  
  
"Hey, how about we just…go together?"  
  
Rogue thought about it, then shook her head. "Nah, I don't want to look like a loser. Uh - no offense." _In other words, I am *way* to depressed about my missing team-mate to think about going anywhere right now._  
  
"None taken. But, I know you, Rogue. You're upset about something, aren't you?"  
  
_Got it right on the nose._  
  
"But don't let that stop you from having a little fun! Come on, live a little." Risty paused to fake a look of hurt. "Unless you don't want me as company."  
  
"No, I…I don't know. I just don't want to go." Risty snapped out of her joking demeanor.  
  
"Wow, something's *really* bothering you. What's the problem?" Rogue turned away and tried to eat her inedible cafeteria mac and cheese. "Come on, you can tell me."  
  
"Well…you know that German kid from the Institute?"  
  
  
  
"So - you're really from Germany and just in America 'cause you're a mutant?" There was little time to talk between hiding places, but Kathy and Kurt found a way. They were taking all the back-streets, where there were few people to watch them playing their game of 'spy.'   
  
Kurt darted to his next hiding-place, in a tight alleyway between a pair of boarded-up pizza parlors. Kathy followed quickly, and, breathing hard, Kurt responded. "That would explain the accent, yeah." Kurt flashed a grin at her before cutting to the next tiny alley.  
  
"Just two more runs," panted Kathy. "I hope we don't have to do this agai-" Kurt interrupted her with his sprint to the next hiding-place. Kathy took a deep breath and bounded after him. "Again," she finished, panting even harder. "You don't get tired easily, do you?"  
  
He responded with another grin, this time baring his fangs at her. Turning faster than she could blink, Kurt darted to the final building between them and the mansion's gates. Kathy stayed behind, a little freaked out by the resemblance of his smile to that of a vampire's. Still staring at the blue form in front of her, she jogged slowly up to meet him. He was peeking around the corner at the immense gate leading to the mansion.  
  
Kurt had a mischievous grin on his face. "After you," he said gallantly, gesturing towards the mansion. Rolling her eyes and storing any fright she had for later, Kathy slowly walked up to the gate, suddenly surprised at the sheer size of it. When she reached the space just in front of it, she reached over and pulled the doorbell. _Who *pulls* a doorbell?_ There was a distant chiming from somewhere beyond the wall, and Kathy found herself glancing back at Kurt for guidance. He didn't have any. Sighing, she tapped her foot and waited...  
  
  
  
...for the damn bell to ring, come on, hurry up, she had to go home and see Kurt! The first thing she was going to do when she saw him was punch his lights out. That, or hug him to pieces. Either way, he was going to be in pain for making her worry. Her entire day had been agony, waiting for any news from home, or for the day to end, whichever one came first. Every teacher up until then had asked her what was bothering her, that is, every one except for Kitty's teacher for this period.  
  
"Miss Pryde, would you mind speaking with me after class?" _Like, right on schedule,_ Kitty thought.  
  
"Sure, Ms. Schultz." It took about a decade, but the bell finally rang, and Kitty found herself facing her sixth teacher of the day. She dismissed the teacher with a simple. "I'm pre-occupied with something at home, I'll be better tomorrow," and practically ran all the way to Scott's car.  
  
Everyone waited impatiently as Scott and Rogue drove their separate vehicles home. Kitty and Evan, especially, were feeling the absence of their elven friend, since he usually sat squashed between the two of them in the backseat of the red sportscar. The only difference between Spyke and Shadowcat at this moment, though, was that Kitty showed her worry, whereas Evan, trying to maintain his "reputation," pretended to be totally cool about the whole situation. Scott and Jean, up front, were trying to set an example by acting confident, but their worry was plain on their faces, especially when they spotted the way Rogue was driving the X-van.  
  
When the two cars finally pulled into the garage, there was a mad dash for the door leading into the mansion. The thunder of many teenagers' shoes could be heard coming down the hallway, and the Professor did his very best not to look too disturbed by the whole situation. With a heavy heart he watched every young face in the room fall in disappointment and upset. He then tried as best as he could to remain impassive as Scott sank heavily into a chair, as Jean's features tightened up while she fought to keep her shields in place. As nearly everyone else bolted for their rooms, with the exception of a few of the new mutants, who just stood there in shock. Then he turned his wheelchair and rolled out of the room, leaving Storm, Beast, and Wolverine to explain as best they could that, yes, they'd been trying their best, and, of course they were still looking for him, and, try to keep your spirits up, but don't be disappointed if you have to wait awhile.  
  
That was when, careful to keep his voice from shaking, Xavier picked up the phone in the hall and proceeded to call Kurt's parents in Germany.  
  
  
  
"Who's there?" came the woman's voice out of the speaker. Kathy hadn't even noticed it was there, and jumped at the sound.  
  
"Uh - uh, Kathy Pryde. I, um, I have to talk to Professor Xavier," she managed after figuring out that you had to press the button to make it work.  
  
There was a heavy sigh from the other end. "All right, come on in." There was a buzzing noise and the gate began to open slowly.  
  
Quickly, Kathy pushed the button a second time, still a bit unsure of herself. "Uh, I'm not here alone. My friend needs to come in, too."  
  
"Fine, fine," came the tired, accented reply. Turning, Kathy waved frantically to Kurt, who immediately darted through the shadows cast by the wall to her side. He looked a little nervous, himself. He had told her earlier that normally, he would just get in using his pin code in the security system, but, since this was "some kind of different dimension or something," he wasn't sure if it would work.  
  
Stepping cautiously, the two made their way through the overgrown lawns and gardens in front of the mansion, and up to what looked to be the main door. Kurt was looking more uneasy every minute. "I take it that these plants should be well-tended?" Kathy asked quietly, in awe of the spooky aura that surrounded the place. He nodded wordlessly.   
  
Suddenly, the door opened in front of them, and Kurt braced himself for any bad reactions to his appearance. A tired-looking woman peeked her head around the solid wood. Her eyes paused on Kurt, but then moved on as if nothing she was looking at was important. She had brown hair, but her face was very familiar…  
  
"Ororo?"  
  
  
  
***  
  
There you go, another cliffhanger with a woman's name being the last thing said (by the same person)! I was going to write more, but I wanted to put it up, already, and, considering that I already pulled this trick once, it seemed like a good idea to pull it again. :D Sorry it took so long to update, but I was...um, occupied with other things. Please review and tell me what you think! 


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